by Derek Slaton
“That… that’s classified,” Sparks said quietly, squaring her shoulders. “Come on, we really need to get going.”
“Is this about all the sick people?” Ashley piped up, eyes curious.
“I… I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Sparks bit her lip.
“Don’t treat us like children, Ms. Sparks,” the blonde girl straightened in her seat. “We both know what kind of research Dr. Alvison does, any my roommate is an intern at the hospital. She has been sending me updates on what’s going on over there. Hundreds of people have checked in just today, all with the same symptoms. That isn’t normal.”
Her voice was loud enough to alert one of the male patrons from the far wall. “Do you know anything about the sickness going round?” He called.
“I assure you, I don’t know anything.” Sparks put a hand up.
“I took my wife to the hospital six hours ago and the place was packed,” he continued, walking towards them. “They took her to the back and the doctor isn’t allowing me to see her. Please, what do you know?”
“Sir, I’m sorry but I can’t help you,” Sparks replied, shaking her head. “I don’t know anything.” She was about to go on the defensive as the man continued to move towards her, but a banging on the front door made them all stop.
“We’re closed!” Mike yelled from wiping tables, but the banging continued. “Goddammit I said we’re closed!” He approached the door with a heavy sigh and unlocked it. “Are you deaf I said we’re-”
As the door swung open a man shoved his way in, snarling and attached himself to Mike’s throat. The diner owner tumbled backwards in shock, screaming as the rabid looking man tore at his flesh with his teeth.
Sparks drew her gun. “Put your hands up, now!” she screamed, and the grotesque man turned his attention on her like a bird hearing a noise. His whole face covered in blood from his ministrations, he leapt from Mike’s lifeless body and darted towards her.
Sparks unloaded three bullets into her attacker but they didn’t slow him down, and she ducked under his grasp and took him around the waist, flinging him up and over her head. He flew into a table and flopped over it like a rag doll, and she spun around to see him bounce right back up onto his feet.
The bald patron intercepted the attacker with a shoulder bash, and leapt on top of him once he hit the ground. He held the cannibal by the throat with one hand and an arm with the other, his prisoner’s free arm flailing and smacking wetly against the leather jacket.
“Can one of you assholes help me out here?” The bald man grunted, and Ben ran over, skidding to a stop to hold down the free arm.
Sparks rushed over, staring down at the milky dead eyes on the creature’s face. It looked like Sokolov. What was happening?
“Don’t just stand there, kill this motherfucker!” The bald man barked.
“I put two in his chest and it didn’t slow him down, so I’m open to suggestions!” Sparks snapped.
“Take his head off!” Ben cried. She aimed her gun but then thought better of it, holstering the weapon. “What are you doing?!” he wailed, and she turned to grab the heavy based sign next to one of the tables reading This Section Closed. She got a good grip on the neck and raised it to bash the creature’s head in.
“STOP!” the other patron from the far wall screamed, standing with his hands out. “That’s a human being! Don’t kill him!”
“You! Shut the fuck up!” the bald guy demanded, and then looked up at Sparks. “You! Kill this motherfucker!” She didn’t hesitate this time before bringing the sign down onto the creature’s face. A few forceful blows and it stopped moving, and the trio relaxed.
The terrified patron ran straight out the door, and Sparks watched in horror as he got halfway across the quad before a pile of zombies took him down. One broke away from the feeding frenzy to tear at the open door.
“Get the door!” She screamed and dove forward, shoving it as hard as she could. The zombie hit the wood, applying just enough pressure that she couldn’t get it closed, so Ben and Baldy threw their weight against it as well.
“Ben, look out!” Ashley shrieked as Mike’s hand closed around Ben’s foot. He stared down in frozen horror at the dead gunked face of the man that had served him lunch so many long school days.
There was a sick squelch as Baldy brought his combat booted foot down on top of Mike’s skull, twice in quick succession.
Ben swallowed hard as the hand let go. “Thanks, man.” He rushed over to Ashley quickly, folding her into a tight hug.
“You.” Sparks pointed at the man who’d been worried about his wife. “Go make sure the back door is secured and there isn’t another way in here.” She instructed, and he darted off before she turned to Baldy. “You okay?”
“Just fine, thank you,” he drawled, but then clucked his tongue as she started to walk away. “So, are you ready to drop the act and tell us what the fuck these things are?”
Sparks sighed. “I don’t know what they are, but I will tell you what I do know.”
“Fair enough,” he replied, crossing his arms expectantly.
“Earlier today, we raided a terrorist compound outside of Austin,” Sparks began. “We took out what we thought was a cell that was prepping a bio-terror attack, but as we’re finding out may have already launched it. We found one of these things at the hideout along with a lot of data, so we came here to see Dr. Alvison in the hopes he could decipher it and let us know what we’re facing.”
The banging on the windows and doors continued to escalate, and they looked around at each other.
“We should probably lay low, get away from their view,” Baldy suggested.
“Not a bad idea,” Sparks agreed, and led him back towards Ben, Ashley, and the patron that had secured the door. They hunkered down behind the food counter, out of sight. The bald man took off his leather jacket with a whoosh of breath, revealing some crudely drawn World War II era German military tattoos.
“What the hell, man?!” Ben’s mouth fell open. “You’re a fucking Nazi?”
“Relax kid,” Baldy replied calmly. “They were necessary for me to survive some youthful transgressions, that’s all.”
“What does that even mean?” Ben snapped.
“It means he got ink in prison so he wouldn’t get shanked in the meal line,” Sparks piped up.
“Bullshit!” the dark skinned boy countered. “Man what do you have against minorities?”
“Really?” Baldy threw his hands up. “We just saw two people get eaten alive and we’re currently surrounding by half a dozen zombies, and you want to know my thoughts on race relations?”
Ben crossed his arms. “Call it self preservation.”
“All you need to do is ask yourself one question,” the older man replied. “Given our current situation, would you rather have me standing here, or some pansy ass liberal that would want to go hug it out with them?”
“Um, I…” Ben stammered.
“He…” Sparks looked at the bald guy expectantly.
“Jeff,” he offered.
“Jeff has a point,” she continued. “Let’s try to focus on the problem at hand and not create new ones.”
“Ms. Sparks?” Ashley cut in, wringing her hands.
“Please, just call me Sparks.”
“Okay, Sparks.” The blonde nodded. “What’s the plan?”
“We’re going to lay low for a few minutes and hope they lose interest and move on,” Sparks replied.
“And what’s the plan when they do move on?” Jeff asked.
“We need to get to the science building,” she told him. “My team is there with Dr. Alvison so we’ll have some protection and can find out what we’re dealing with. Unfortunately it’s a long ass haul to the science building since the student union is locked.”
“I have a key that can get us in,” Ashley put in. “Dr. Alvison lent me his faculty key when we came out for lunch.”
“That makes me feel a little better,” Spar
ks admitted. “Running across the quad is a lot easier than trying to get all the way around the union. At least when we’re inside we’ll have some choke points where we can hold them off.”
Jeff nodded. “That’s sounds like as good a plan as any.” He hopped up into a booth and stretched out his legs, taking up the entire seat in a pose of pure relaxation. The banging and groaning from outside intensified. “Guess we should get comfortable. Sounds like we might be awhile.”
CHAPTER SIX
Tuesday, 6:22 P.M.
As the sun started to set, the banging slowly ceased, though upon peering through the windows the inhabitants of Mike’s Diner could still see the zombies milling about.
“Fuck, they are up to ten,” Sparks murmured as she squinted through the blinds, and turned back to face her impromptu crew. “I don’t see our situation improving, so once the sun sets and we have a little bit of cover we need to make a run for it.”
“That gives us what, about fifteen minutes to come up with a plan?” Jeff scoffed.
“I’m open to suggestions,” Sparks retorted.
“What if we barrel through them?” Ben asked.
“Might work for us, but not some of the slower members of the group,” Jeff replied, motioning to the diner patron who’d been worried about his wife. He hadn’t said a word the entire time since he checked the back door, and they didn’t know if he’d even run with them. “Unless of course you’re okay sacrificing our boy over there.”
“Man, come on.” Ben sighed. “I wasn’t suggesting that.”
“Relax kid, I know,” Jeff insisted. “The reality is though that most of us wouldn’t make it if we tried your plan.”
“Okay, so what’s your big idea?” Ben crossed his arms.
The bald man smiled. “Let’s give em the ole okey doke.”
There was an awkward silence until Ben raised a hand. “Umm… what the hell is that?”
“You know,” Jeff prompted, “from Dawn of the Dead?”
“Is that the one with the dad from Modern Family?” Ashley asked.
“Goddamn kids these days,” Jeff muttered, scrubbing his hands down his face. “No respect for the classics.” He sighed. “What it means is that we’re going to create a distraction to clear our path. This place has a back loading door, right?”
“Yeah.” Ben nodded. “In the kitchen. Leads directly out behind the building.”
“So we pop our heads out there, make some noise and those zombies out there come and see what’s up,” Jeff said. “At the very least it should thin their numbers out some.”
“Seems risky,” Ben replied.
“Ben, anything we do at this point is going to be risky,” Sparks piped up. “This seems like the best option.”
“Okay, it’s settled then,” Jeff said with finality, rolling his shoulders. “Let’s get loaded up.” They started pulling some of the memorabilia from the walls, machetes and batons, anything that could be used as a weapon or to make noise.
Sparks took pause as the mute patron didn’t move, curled up in the fetal position in a booth. “What’s your name?” She asked gently.
“My- my name is Kyle,” he whispered.
“Okay Kyle,” Sparks said firmly. “I’m sure you heard but we’re going to make a run for it.” She motioned to the front door with the baton she’d liberated from the wall.
“Nope.” He shook his head violently in protest. “I’m just going to wait right here for the police to come.”
“Kyle, I am the police,” she said, leaning forward. “And I’m all that’s coming to help. It isn’t going to safe here once we open the front door.”
“Nope, nuh-uh,” he continued as if she hadn’t said anything, “I’m staying here where it’s safe.”
Jeff walked up and flattened his hands down on the diner table, staring Kyle down. “Listen motherfucker, it’s the end of the world and you got two choices. You can fight or you can lay down and die. If you’ll notice wasting my goddamn time and endagering my life because you’re a pussy isn’t one of the choices. So what’s it gonna be?”
Sparks blinked at the bald man’s sudden harshness, but Kyle clenched his jaw and stood up from the booth.
“Okay,” he said firmly. “I’ll come.”
Jeff winked at Sparks before leading the way to the back door.
“Okay guys, here we go,” the redhead said. “Jeff and I will create a diversion. I want the three of you to wait by the front door. If this goes to plan we’re going to be moving quick.”
“We’ll be ready,” Ben assured her.
Sparks joined Jeff, gun drawn, and he raised his machete and put his hand on the door handle.
“Okay, on three,” he said. “One. Two.”
“Wait,” she said.
“Don’t puss out on me now.” Jeff raised an eyebrow, and Sparks shot him a death glare that said motherfucker please.
“First off, if you ever had to pick up my balls, you’d throw your back out,” she huffed, and he cracked a smile. “Secondly, I’m going to grab some pots and pans. Should go a long way towards making noise.”
“And here I was thinking you’d just fire off a couple of rounds.” He watched her rummage for a few thin pans with a skeptical look on his face.
“I only have twenty-six shots left, and I get the sense I shouldn’t be wasting them,” she said as she rejoined him at the door.
“That’s a valid point,” he agreed, and then took the handle again firmly.
Sparks nodded. “Okay, zombie distraction, take two.”
“Again, on three,” he said. “One. Two. Three!” He flung the door open and they burst outside, scanning the vicinity for enemies. There were two zombies about fifty yards away who were feasting on a victim, and they shot to attention at the noise.
Sparks gave Jeff a nod and dove for the dumpster to the right of them, banging on it with the pots and pans like a death metal drummer. Screeches in the distance alerted them that zombies were headed their way, and she dropped the pans to dart back towards Jeff at the door.
He reeled back and slammed the machete into the top of a wayward zombie’s head, stopping it dead in its tracks. Before he could wrench the blade free, Sparks landed a flying kick to the zombie’s chest, dislodging the body from the weapon.
“Let’s go!” She exclaimed, and tore back inside. Jeff slammed the door and locked it, banging on it a few more times for good measure. They barreled back through the diner to meet up with the rest of the group.
“There are still some out there,” Ben said tersely, clutching his baton with white knuckles.
“We’re gonna have to chance it,” Jeff replied, peering at the three zombies milling about, still relatively close to the door.
Ben swallowed hard. “But…”
“Jeff is right,” Sparks cut in. “This is our only chance. Here’s the plan. When that door flies open, I want Ashley to run as fast as she can to the Student Union to get that door unlocked. Jeff and I will take the two on the right, Ben, you take the one on the left.”
“Wh-what about me?” Kyle stammered, his big eyes watery.
“You can help Ben,” Jeff said, and the student scowled at the skinhead, receiving only a smile in return.
“Okay.” Sparks nodded. “Go!” She flung the door open, and Ashley sprinted straight ahead, a blur of blonde zipping across the quad. Jeff lunged to the right and in a powerful arc, beheaded his zombie quickly. Sparks bludgeoned hers in the head three times in succession before it stopped moving, just as Ben’s zombie grabbed him by the arms.
“Goddammit man, help me!” he cried to Kyle, who was frozen in the doorway of the diner.
“I’m… I’m sorry!” He backed inside slowly, fear frozen on his face, and Ben let out a groan of frustration as he continued to wrestle with his snapping enemy.
“Duck!” Jeff screamed, and the student complied, leaning just out of the way so that the bald man could swing his machete into his opponent’s face. “Let’s go!” He scr
eamed as the body fell, and he shoved Ben after Sparks.
“They’re coming!” the redhead yelled, sprinting in the direction of the Student Union. A few zombies staggered from around the building and ambled after them. “Open the door!” Sparks demanded as they caught up to Ashley, the blonde fumbling with the key.
“The key isn’t working!” she shrieked, and Ben looked fearfully behind them to see two zombies overtake the diner door. He swallowed at the thought of Kyle’s demise, and shook his head to try to focus on the task at hand.
“Well, you’ve got about ten seconds before we’re overrun,” Jeff said, sounding as calm as could be, and Ben shot him a glare before Sparks shoved Ashley into him. He caught her with an oof and clutched her close as the officer fired her gun at the corner of a large pane of glass in the door.
“Come on!” Sparks kicked in the shattered glass, and then waved the others inside. She hopped in before Jeff and the four barreled down the hallway just as zombies started to squirm into the building.
“Stairs are at the back of the building!” Ben cried as he ran, holding Ashley’s hand like their lives depended on it. They burst through a set of double doors and Jeff and Ben slam back against them to hold them shut against the pack of zombies behind them.
“It’s the third floor,” Ashley huffed.
“Go, make sure that key fucking works this time,” Jeff instructed. “We’ll hold them off until you give us the signal.”
“When you come up, hug the right side of the wall,” Sparks countered, and the guys nodded. As the girls took off up the stairs, the skinhead turned to the student.
“Bet you’re really glad I’m a big badass motherfucker now, aren’t you?” Jeff sneered, and Ben simply shook his head, grunting all of his energy into holding the door shut.
“We’re clear up here!” Sparks called down the stairwell.
Jeff met Ben’s gaze. “You ready?” he asked.
“After you,” Ben replied.
“Alright, on three,” Jeff said. “One. Two. Three!”
They both sprang off the door and hit the stairs, running up the right side as quickly as they could. The zombies fell all over each other as they staggered in the door, but quickly regained footing to pursue up to the first landing. They piled up towards the second floor but Sparks stood there, opening fire on them as they attempted to follow Ben and Jeff.
